Therapy First: Why Oral Motor Therapy Matters More Than Lip Tie Myths 🍼

Three month old was referred to me for severe lip tie. Parents were told that it needed to be released by release provider as soon as possible. But when I assessed the baby, we discovered the baby had low tone, poor lip activation. They were compensating by sucking in, like, harder with their cheeks. And we started oral motor therapy, sensory oral motor therapy. And after, I think it was like three sessions, the latch was improving. They had better milk transfer. There honestly was no need for a release at that point. And so therapy first. Okay, when I say therapy first, like, yes, a lip tie may be present. Yes, a lip time may be part of the story, but it's not the whole story. It's one piece of the puzzle or one piece of the story. And we need to be looking at all things and prepping that baby and trying to intervene behaviorally.